Scottish Christmas Customs

Black Bun, Originally called a Twelfth Night Cake, is a very rich fruitcake, filled almost solid with fruit, almonds, spices, and bound together with plenty of whisky. The stiff mixture is put into a cake tin lined with a rich short pastry and baked.

Sun Cakes are a legacy from Scotland's close associations with Scandinavia. Sun cakes are baked with a hole in the center and scored lines radiating from the center. These lines represent the rays of the sun. This pattern is now found on the modern Scottish shortbread and has been misidentified as slices markings!

Bees leave their hives on Christmas morning. An old belief that early on Christmas morning all bees will leave their hives, swarm and then return. Many old Scots tell tales of having witnessed this happening. One possible explanation to this behavior is that bees are protective of their hives so if there is unexpected activity they will want to check it out to see if there is any danger. As people were often up and about on Christmas Eve observing various traditions or just returning from the night services, the bees would sense the disturbance and come out of their hives to check for danger.

Divination customs. There are a number of ancient divination cus­toms associated with Scottish Christmas tradition. One involves checking the cold ashes the morning after the Christmas fire. A foot shape facing the door was said to be fore­telling a death in the family, while a foot shape facing into the room meant a new arrival. Another divination was the cere­monial burning of Old Winter, the Cailleach. A piece of wood was carved to roughly represent the face of an old woman, then named as the Spirit of Winter, the Cailleach. The Cailleach was placed onto a good burning fire to burn away. All the family gathered had to watch Old Winter burn to the end. The burning symbolized the ending of all the bad luck and a fresh start.

The Candlemas Bull was in really a cloud in the sky. It was believed that a bull would cross the sky in the form of a cloud early on the morning on Candlemas, Feb­ruary 2nd. From its appearance people would divine a meaning. An east ­traveling cloud foretold a good year. A south traveling Candlemas Bull meant a poor grain year. But if it faced to the west, the year would be poor one. This custom was a remnant of the ancient Mithraiac religion when the bull-god would come at the start of spring to foretell the farmers what to expect in the coming year.

Candlelight. All of the Celtic countries have a similar custom ­of lighting a candle at Christ­mas time to light the way of a stranger. In Scotland, this was called the Oidche Choinnle, or the Night of Can­dles. Candles were placed in every window to light the way for the Holy Family on Christmas Eve and firstfooters on New Year's Eve. Shopkeepers gave their customers Yule Candles as a symbol of good­will wishing them a "Fire to warm you by and a light to guide you."

Firstfooters. In Scotland, it was, and still is, the custom for a stranger to enter the house after midnight on New Year's Eve. There were taboos about the luck such a stranger would bring, espe­cially in the days of hospitality to traveling strangers. A fair-haired visi­tor was considered bad luck in most areas, partly due to fighting between the dark Scots and the fair Norse invaders. However, in Christ­ian times a fair-haired man was con­sidered very lucky providing his name was Andrew (because St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland). The firstfooter must make an offering, or handsel. The offering can be food, drink or fuel for the fire. Rituals which have evolved from this custom are many. An offering of food or drink must be accepted by sharing it with everyone present, including the visi­tor. Fuel must be placed onto the fire by the visitor with the words "A good New Year to one and all and many may you see." In today's fireless society, the fuel is usually pre­sented as a polished piece of coal, or wood, which can be preserved for the year as an ornament.

Extracted from The Highlander, November / December 2005